Rachel Smalley: Hey guys, where's the women on coalition negotiation teams?

And so the negotiations go on.

It's just a waiting game with the Nats and Labour tip-toeing around Parliament talking about how they can't talk about anything right now but everything's going well, it's all very positive... and Winston Peters is like a Rottweiler lunging at the end of his leash, snarling at the media like a dog who's been poked with a stick one too many times.

And so we wait, like we've been told to... because we'll have a new government in six days time. Apparently.

The negotiation teams are interesting, I think. And this was something Jack Tame pointed out to me on the Drive programme yesterday.

Jacinda Ardern aside, there are no women in those teams.

In the blue corner we've got Bill English, Gerry Brownlee, Wayne Eagleson, Steven Joyce and Todd McClay.

And in the red corner we have Kelvin Davis, Grant Robertson, David Parker, Sir Michael Cullen, Neale Jones and Mike Munro.

All male negotiators.

Now, they've been picked because with the exception of Steven Joyce, they all have a good relationship with Peters or at least the respect of Peters... Joyce has to be there because he's finance minister.

But personalities matter in the negotiating teams because as Peters himself says, "You wouldn't want somebody's past behaviour and obnoxiousness to be a part of the problem, would you?"

Well clearly not, Winston.

For his part, Peters says his team of negotiators will change. In the first round of talks yesterday - a sort of meet and greet - he did include Tracey Martin.

But when I look at the two key negotiation teams, I'm reminded of that photo of Donald Trump and the team he'd amassed around him just after the election. His oval office was full of white men in suits.

And it's a similar situation with the Brexit negotiation team too. A team of 10. One woman. All white.

And yet women are pretty good at preventing, managing and resolving conflict and contentious issues in a corporate environment. They can take the heat out of a situation. More light, less heat, gentlemen.

The coalition negotiation teams should absolutely be there on merit, and many of the negotiators have been chosen because they've got a pretty good relationship with Peters.
Old mates. They use to play rugby together. You know the drill.

And perhaps that says more about Winston, then anything. He's from the yesteryear of politics when the corridors of power teemed with men.

But a more diverse group of decision-makers and negotiators would surely represent the interests of this country in coalition talks.

At the moment, it feels like "group think". You may argue that's what you need when it comes to negotiating.

Or perhaps the all-male negotiation teams that have been designed to appease Winston... well, maybe that says more about Winston then anything.